The headline statistics about AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa are well known: nearly one in ten adults, a staggering 26 million people, are estimated to be infected with the deadly HIV virus. In eight countries in Southern Africa, the overall adult prevalence rate is now well over 25 per cent. But, unlike no other pandemic before it, there is very little accurate information about just how many people have died of AIDS-related illnesses during the last decade or so. A real concern is that seriously over-inflated estimates of HIV prevalence could exacerbate already high levels of despondency and even fatalism about the epidemic among many young people in Africa.